Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced plans to increase pensions and the minimum wage by the end of the year amid ongoing student protests and political tension. The government presents this move as support for citizens, but critics see it as part of a pre-election campaign aimed at boosting the president’s approval ratings.
Vučić stated pensioners will receive a significant increase but did not specify whether it would be a regular or extraordinary raise, nor the exact percentage. Last year, pensions were increased by 10.9 percent, but pensioners actually received 3.53 percent less than the legal requirement due to misalignment with wage growth—a fact Vučić admitted for the first time this week.
The minimum wage, currently 457 euros, may be raised to between 500 and 550 euros by year-end. Such an increase outside the usual annual adjustment in January would be unprecedented and part of ongoing talks with trade unions and the Ministry of Finance.
Economist Milan Kovačević criticizes these announcements as politically motivated, lacking legal basis, and likely to worsen inflation and public debt. He warns that similar “helicopter money” policies during the pandemic led to Serbia’s current high inflation and economic challenges.
Jovan Tamburić, President of the Union of Retired Military Personnel, expects pensions will be raised as usual in December but sees the timing of the announcement as an early start to the election campaign. He highlights ongoing poverty among pensioners and criticizes the government’s distribution of humanitarian aid packages as insufficient compensation for low pensions.
Tamburić also reiterated that last year’s pension increases did not fully comply with legal requirements, resulting in pensioners receiving less than the wage growth, a discrepancy Vučić has now acknowledged.
